The pool of top-notch referees in mixed martial arts is fairly shallow. Herb Dean and "Big" John McCarthy are generally considered the best in the field, but one who rarely gets mentioned despite an exemplary record is Leon Roberts.
A British official who has worked UFC fights since 2008, Roberts is also a lifelong martial artist, which occasionally comes in handy when you're working with overzealous fighters.
Take, for instance, the recent Fight UK MMA amateur bout between Nathias Frederick and Ahmed Aswad held in Leicester, England.
All seemed to be going rather routinely early on, with Frederick controlling the standup game and Aswad scoring a couple of takedowns.
Suddenly, with about 40 seconds left in the first round, Frederick caught Aswad on the chin with a left hook, putting his opponent out.
Immediately seeing this, Roberts darted across the cage to call a halt to the action, but Frederick refused to comply and back off, instead staying atop Aswad and attempting to add further damage to the already KO'd fighter. The quick-thinking Roberts then jumped up on his back, hooked Frederick's legs and rendered him defenseless, presumably until Fredericks either cried uncle or realized he'd waded a little too deep into the ocean.
Cooler heads quickly prevailed, and Fredericks slunk off to his corner. Of yet, there's been no word on whether any disciplinary action would be taken against him.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/aGOsM9UM-GU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
A British official who has worked UFC fights since 2008, Roberts is also a lifelong martial artist, which occasionally comes in handy when you're working with overzealous fighters.
Take, for instance, the recent Fight UK MMA amateur bout between Nathias Frederick and Ahmed Aswad held in Leicester, England.
All seemed to be going rather routinely early on, with Frederick controlling the standup game and Aswad scoring a couple of takedowns.
Suddenly, with about 40 seconds left in the first round, Frederick caught Aswad on the chin with a left hook, putting his opponent out.
Immediately seeing this, Roberts darted across the cage to call a halt to the action, but Frederick refused to comply and back off, instead staying atop Aswad and attempting to add further damage to the already KO'd fighter. The quick-thinking Roberts then jumped up on his back, hooked Frederick's legs and rendered him defenseless, presumably until Fredericks either cried uncle or realized he'd waded a little too deep into the ocean.
Cooler heads quickly prevailed, and Fredericks slunk off to his corner. Of yet, there's been no word on whether any disciplinary action would be taken against him.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/aGOsM9UM-GU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
